Closure securing means



1942- E. w. DUNCAN 2,305,241

'- CLOSURE SECURING MEANS v I Filed Jan. 16, 1940 2 Shets-Sheef. 1'

E. W. DUNCAN CLOSURE SECURING MEANS Dec. 15, 1942.

' Filed Jan. 16, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elma/rm Patented Dec. 15, 1942UNITED STATES E ATE NT OFFICE 2- Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in dump cars of the type havingdrop bottom doors and pertains particularly to an improved means forcontrolling the opening or dropping of such doors.

The present invention relates particularly to.

those types of dump cars having drop bottom doors which are used intransporting coal or similar material from a source of supply to adumping point, and has for its primary object to provide a novelelectrically controlled latching means for the doors forming the bottomof such car whereby such doors will be automatically released by theenergization of the electrical control mechanism when each of the dropbottom doors of the car comes into a predetermined position, whereby thecontents or a portion of the contents of the car will be dischargedtherefrom as each door is released.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide inacar structure having hinged drop bottom doors, a latching elementassociated with each door to oscillate on an axis extendinglongitudinally of the car and an electrically energized unit controllingan oscillatable keeper pin which engages the adjacent latch andwhich,'when the electrical unit is energized, is shifted to release thelatch for the opening of the adjacent door under the action of gravity.

A further object of the invention is to provide a control mechanism fordrop bottom doors, as above described, which is housed within the car insuch manner that it will occupy a minimum of space and will becompletely protected 5 against damage from coal or other material thrownor dumped into the car.

The invention will be best understood from. a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding,however, that the invention is not to be confined to any strictconformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed ormodified so long as such drop bottom door controlling mechanism em- 55bodying the present invention an'dlshowing .one' of such doors in openposition over the material receiving hopper. 5 Fig. 3 is a partialtransverse section taken on the line 33 of Fig. l. 1

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on theline 34 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6- illustrates diagrammatically the electrical control means forone bottom door.

Referring nowmore particularly'to theidraw- I ings, the numeral IIgenerally designates a car of the character commonly employed in coalmines into which the mined coal is thrown to be transported from themine to a suitable dump or receiver such as is indicated at 2 inFig; 2,such receiver being disposed beneath the track 3 on which the car moves.The car structure shown has the vertical lower side walls' i merginginto upwardly and outwardly sloping portions 5, and vertical end walls6. Axles I extending transversely of the car through the lower portionsof the side walls 4 are connected with supporting wheels 8 which runupon .the track 3'.

Extending transversely within the car between the wall portions 4 arethe axle'housings 9, each of which has a'horizontal toplwall Ii) and theupper part of such housing is transversely roundedan'd provided with anopening ll which'is covered by a removable cover plate or door I 2, thusdividing each' housing into the upper and lower casings I3 and M,respectively, the lower casing housing the axle as shown in Fig. 4.

At one end of the car structure there extends inwardly and downwardlyfrom the adjacent end wall 6, an apron l5 whileat the opposite end ofthe car a similar apron I6 is located and connected at its top edge withthe adjacent end wall 6, this latter apron having a relatively longvertical inner wall portion I1 and a housing l8 extending upwardly fromthe sloping top part thereof, as shown in Fig. 2. The lower wall portion!1 of the apron I6 is provided with a downwardly opening recess IQ forthe purpose hereinafter stated.

The bottom for the car I is made up in'three sections which areindicated by the numerals 20, 2| and 22, which constitute downwardlyopening doors. The door 20 is hingedly supported upon a shaft 23extending transversely of the 'car'beneath the apron l5 while the doors2 l andZZ are supported upon similar supporting shafts indicated by thenumeral 24 and each disposed within the lower chamber of the housing 9'of an axle shown in Fig. 4. The doors forming the car bottom when inclosed position all lie in a common plane and the free edges of thedoors 2!] and 2I abut against the lower edge of one side wall of an axlehousing, as shown in Fig. 4, while the free edge of the door 22 abutsagainst the lower edge of the vertical wall portion I I of the apron I5.

At the free edge of each of the doors there is secured a keeper pin 25which is in a plane above the top surface of the door and extends beyondthe adjacent edge of the door and these keepers on the doors 2!! and 2|enter a recess or notch 26 in the lower edge of the wall of the axlehousing which the door abuts when in closed position while the keepercarried by the door 22 enters the recess I9 in the apron wall I'I.

Pivotally supported upon the inner side of the notched side wall of eachhousing 9 upon the pivot pin 21 and within the casing or chamber I4 .isan oscillatable latch bolt 23. This latch bolt 28 is in the form of aflat plate in which is a keeper receiving recess 29 bordered on one sideby a short finger 30 and upon the opposite side by a longer finger 3 I.The edge of the latch bolt plate remote from the recess 29 is providedwith the two shoulders 32 and 33.

Pivotally supported on a pin member 34 for oscillation on an axisparallel with the axis of oscillation of the adjacent latch bolt 23 isan elongated detent 35, the lower end of which is cutoff obliquely asindicated at 35, for selective engagement with the shoulders 32, 33 ofthe adjacent bolt. This detent 35 extends upwardly through a recess 31in the adjacent horizontal wall II] of the axle housing and at its upperend terminates in the lateral extension 38.

Within the upper chamber I3 of each of the axle housings there issupported upon the wall It a solenoid coil 39 having a relatively longmovable armature 40 extended at one end thereinto. Each of the armatures40 passes through a guide plate M and has its outer end connected with ahead 42 which is slidably supported upon the wall I0 and which has atransverse notch 43 in its top surface in which is engaged the lateralextension 38 of the adjacent detent 35. An expansion spring 44 encirclesthe armature 40 between the plate M and the head 42 and normally urgesthe head and armature away from the solenoid so as to maintain thedetent 35 in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3.

Housed beneath the apron I5 is an electrically controlled latchstructure simliar to the ones enclosed within the axle housings 9, formaintaining the adjacent drop door 22 in raised, closed position. Thismechanism includes a pivotally supported latch bolt 45 of the same formas the bolts 28, this bolt having a keeper receiving recess 46 and theupper and lower arms 41 and 48 corresponding respectively with the arms3| and 30 of the plates 28. The back edge of the bolt plate 45 is formedwith the spaced shoulders 49 and 50. This plate 48 is pivotallysupported upon the inner side of the wall l1 upon the pivot pin 5| andadjacent this pin is a pivot pin 52 on which is oscillatably supported adetent 53 corresponding with the detent 35.

One end of this bar is adapted for selective engagement with theshoulders 49-50 of the adjacent keeper and the other end of the detentlies beneath the housing I8 in which is disposed the solenoid coil 54having the movable armature 55 which is pivotally coupled at its lowerend at 55 with the adjacent end of the detent 53.

An expansion spring 51 is interposed between the detent 53 and theoverlying portion of the apron which shields and encloses this latchmechanism in the end of the car and normally tends to urge the outer endof the detent 53 downwardly so as to maintain the opposite end of thedetent in contact with th shoulder 49 when the adjacent door 22 is inclosed position.

As will be readily seen from the foregoing, when the doors are in. theirclosed positions, the keepers 25 will be disposed within the recesses ofthe adjacent latch bolts, these recesses being horizontally directed asis clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and the adjacent detents will havetheir ends in engagement with on of the shoulders of the adjacent latchbolt to hold this bolt against turning so'that the keeper within thelatch bolt recess will rest upon the lower and shorter arm of the bolt.Upon energization of the latch controlling solenoids, the armatures ofthe solenoids will bedrawn inwardly and the detents coupled with thearmatures will be oscillated to disengage from the upper shoulders ofthe latch bolts. This; will permit the latch bolts to turn or oscillateso that the recesses thereof will be directed downwardly, thisoscillation of the latch bolts being brought about by gravity and theweight imposed upon the shorter lower arms thereof through the medium ofthe supported keepers. Since the solenoids will only b momentarilyenergized, it will be apparent that the control springs associated withthem will immediately react to force the detents back to their formerpositions and to force the armatures of the solenoids outwardly and thusthe lower shoulders of the latch bolts will come into engagement withthe detents and the latch bolts will be prevented from swinging beyondth position where their recesses are downwardly directed. The longerupper arms of the latching bolts will thus be disposed in a positionwhere they will be contacted by the door keepers 25 when the doors areraised to closed position and when this occurs, the latch bolts will beswung back to keeper retaining position and the upper shoulder of eachlatch bolt will ride across the end of the adjacent detent, shifting itmomentarily against the tension of the adjacent control spring until theshoulder is in position where the end of the detent can swing back intoposition over the shoulder.

As previously stated, cars of the type herein described are designed foruse in handling coal or other similar material which is droppeddownwardly into a hopper, as shown in Fig. 2, and in order to energizethe door latch releasing solenoids at the proper moment to permit thedoors to open over the receiver 2, there is provided a circuit closingmeans which includes a stationary arcuate switch strip 58 arranged in asuitable position at one side of the track 3, as shown in Fig. 2, andelectrically connected'with one side of a source of electric potential58, as shown in Fig. 6; the other side of such source being grounded, asat 53. Coacting with the stationary switch strip or contact 58 areswinging contacts GI supported at one side of the car to slide over thestationary strip 58 as each car door moves into the position over thereceiver 2 where it is to be opened and each of these swinging contactsis electrically coupled to the wire 52 with one side of a door latchcontrolling solenoid, the other side of the solenoid being grounded, asindicated at 53. Thus it will be readily apparent that when the carmoves along the track toward the place where the doors are to bereleased,

the energization of a latch bolt actuating solenoid will occur as eachdoor moves over such place, such as the hopper or receiver 2, throughthe closing of the control circm't by the engagement of the solenoidswitch unit 51 with the fixed or stationary switch strip 58.

While I have described and illustrated a car structure having three dropbottom doors, it is to be understood that the invention is not limitedto a car having this number of doors as a greater or lesser number ofdoors may be employed if desired.

What is claimed is:

1. In a lading carrying receptacle of the character set forth having abottom discharge opening and a door for said opening pivoted to swing onan axis extending transversely of the receptacle, the door carrying akeeper pin extending from an edge thereof; a completely housed latchingmeans for engaging said keeper comprising a housing extending across theinterior of the receptacle and having one side wall engaged at one edgeby the said edge of the door when the latter is closed, said wall edgehaving a keeper receiving recess therein, a latch bolt in the form of aflat plate disposed with a flat side against the inner face of said walladjacent said recess and completely shielded by said wall from contactwith material passing through said opening, said latch bolt plate havinga peripheral recess coacting with the wall recess to receive saidkeeper, pivot means for said plate facilitating turning the same toarrange the recesses to open in the same direction or in difierent directions, said plate having a peripheral shoulder, a pivoted detent in thehousing adapted to engage one end with said shoulder, and anelectro-magnetic means enclosed in the housing and operatively coupledwith the detent to oscillate the same for engagement with anddisengagement from said shoulder.

2. In a lading carrying vehicle having supporting wheels and axlestherefor extending transversely thereof together with bottom dischargeopenings and a door for each opening pivoted to swing on an axisextending transversely of the receptacle, each door carrying a keeperpin extending from an edge thereof; a housing extending transversely ofthe receptacle over and shielding each axle, each housing having onewall arranged to be engaged at its lower edge by the said edge of a doorwhen the latter is closed, the said housing Wall having a downwardlyopening recess to receive the door keeper, a latch bolt in the form of aflat plate disposed against the inner side of said wall adjacent saidrecess and completely shielded by said housing wall from contact withmaterial passing through the adjacent opening, said keeper plate havinga peripheral recess coacting with the wall recess to receive the keeper,pivot means for said plate facilitating turning the same to arrange therecess thereof to open in the same direction as the Wall recess or in adifferent direction with respect thereto, said plate having a peripheralshoulder, a detent pivotally mounted upon said will within the housingand adapted to engage one end with said shoulder, a solenoid having areciprocable armature, means for supporting said solenoid within thehousing above the latch bolt for horizontal movement of the solenoid, ahead carried by said solenoid and slidable on said supporting means,resilient means normally urging movement of the armature and headoutwardly. from the solenoid, said head having a slot therein, and saiddetent having an upper laterally turned portion loosely engaged in saidslot.

ED W. DUNCAN.

